Ellenor Bland, a Conservative representative of Calne Town Council in Wiltshire, was reported to race-relations watchdogs for the e-mail which talks about Pakistani immigrants coming to Britain to claim welfare benefits.

The poem also appeared on a blog by the Conservative MP Boris Johnson, who said today: “It is an utterly dreadful poem and I condemn it unreservedly. Hundreds of people post material on to the site and I had absolutely no idea it was there.”

Mrs Bland insisted she had not personally sent the poem and that “someone else” had used one of her email accounts. But she said that the text, which has featured on white supremacist websites, was “light-hearted” and was not intended to cause offence.

The text, entitled Illegal Immigrants Poem, describes how a migrant comes to Britain “poor and broke” and makes money by claiming welfare benefits before inviting friends from his home country to come and join him.

The poem ends: “We have hobby, it’s called breeding. Welfare pay for baby feeding. Kids need dentist? Wife need pills? We get free! We got no bills!

"Britain crazy! They pay all year, To keep welfare running here.

“We think UK darn good place. Too darn good for the white man race! If they no like us, they can scram. Got lots of room in Pakistan!”

Beneath the text on the email was a cartoon picture of the white cliffs of Dover with the words “P*** off - we’re full!” scrawled across them.

Edward Davey, the Liberal Democrat MP for Kingston and Surbiton, said the email was “totally unacceptable”. He wrote to Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), asking him to consider what action should be taken.

Mr Davey said: “It is totally unacceptable for elected representatives to be distributing this kind of material. Racism has absolutely no place in British politics and I am asking the CRE to advise on what further action can be taken. Despite David Cameron’s best PR efforts, the Conservative Party clearly continues to contain some deeply unpleasant elements.”

A Conservative spokesman said: “The Conservative Party disassociates itself entirely from the sentiments in this poem. Ellenor Bland has been suspended from the candidates’ list and from the Party pending a full investigation.”

Mrs Bland, who runs a clothes shop in Wootton Bassett, lives in the village of Quemerford and has been a Calne town councillor since 2003. She stood for the party in Swansea East at last year’s General Election.

She told the Press Association: “I haven’t sent anything out which I’m accused of sending. I didn’t. Someone else did. My email address is something that’s used by my husband too. It’s not my personal email account.”

The email was sent from the address listed as a contact address for Mrs Bland on Calne Town Council’s website.

She added: “From what I remember of it, it was a very light-hearted poem. If anyone wants to accuse someone of being racist, we have Asian friends and we work well together and all accept each other’s different ways.

“People crack jokes about things. If somebody wants to go overboard, anybody who wants to take it that way, I apologise for it in advance, but at the same time no offence was meant."

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Donor organ allowed child’s own heart to heal
• Michael Jackson: Not the final chapter
• Brüno toned down for 15 rating